


All Saints Eve

by HostisHumaniGeneris



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Trick or Treat: Treat, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-01 07:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16280375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HostisHumaniGeneris/pseuds/HostisHumaniGeneris
Summary: Jake Muller was spending his first Halloween in the states with a certain special lady.  He's not into the fake spiders and gutted pumpkins, but Sherry's enthusiastic enough for the two of them.





	All Saints Eve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Silex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silex/gifts).



“Trick or treat!” The parade of cheap plastic monsters shouted, holding out bags.  Sherry leaned over and dropped candy into the bags they were all holding.  For his part, Jake sat on the couch, appreciating the good angle of view he had on the good witch.  The legion of costumed children turned and marched away, and Sherry shut the door and stepped back to the couch.  She sat next to him, leaning against him; letting him drape an arm over her shoulder.

This was his first time at her house; Hell, it was the first time he’d met her stateside.  Their lines of work had them up and down the globe, and they occasionally ran into one another on business.  Maybe he might’ve taken a few jobs specifically because he had a hunch he’d find a certain American Agent milling about.  Last time, a bit of cleanup work in Eastern Europe, she let him know she’d gotten a house of her own in the states, and let him know he had a standing invite.

A few months later, and here he was.  The night itself was a complete accident, and when he first showed up, the sight of her in a witch costume, silly pointed hat, made him do a double take.  Then she dragged him inside and sat him down and ordered ‘Chinese’, unlike most of his experiences eating in China.  He had to stay the night, it was Halloween.

This was Jake Muller’s first Halloween; it wasn’t much of a holiday in Edonia, especially for an impoverished sick woman and her bastard son.  And, looking around, he wasn’t particularly missing much; Americans seemed to love ‘harvest’ holidays where they decorated with fake plastic bats and spiders and monsters.  And buying perfectly good gourds only to carve faces in them and letting them rot outdoors.   And apparently ‘cider’ in America only was alcoholic if you specifically sought it out.  And children came to demand dubious quality chocolate under threat of “tricks”. 

The best part of the holiday, to him, was the way Sherry was overdoing it.  They didn’t talk much about her past, but something told him this was the first time she really got an opportunity to cut loose and celebrate Halloween like she wanted to.  And her enthusiasm was adorable, and almost infectious.  _Almost_. And the costume? Jake Mueller wasn't going to complain if Sherry wanted to curl up on the couch next to him wearing _that_.

He remained stoically glued to the couch when bands of children came to play; a werewolf here, a superhero there.  He had to admit being more impressed by the children showing up in clearly homemade costumes, things their parents had to work at, rather than cheap plastic crap bought for one use for what had to be a ridiculous markup.  But Sherry was having a Hell of a time, sometimes hamming it up regarding her ‘pretties’ as they tried to extort her out of sugary junk, sometimes taking a knee to say kind words to real little kids.  Always fawning over the children.

“This is nice.” She said, stretching a little before intertwining her fingers with his.

He ran his thumb against the back of her hand and let out a ‘nnnn-hhhmmmm’.  It was pretty much solely nice due to who he had for company, but if she liked the holiday, that was fine by him. 

They were watching ‘horror’ movies.  Occasional jump scare, masked madman chasing after thirty-somethings pretending to be teenagers.  Occasional tits on screen.  Not much to speak of; he kept his mouth shut until Sherry started laughing.  It wasn’t nervous laughter.  To go with her plastic pumpkin and fake skeletons, the ‘scary’ movies she watched were comedies.  Something so badly done they were funny.

He didn’t get the joke, really.  Must’ve been a cultural thing. 

“Why would you run up the stairs?” She asked as the ‘coed’ did just that, the deformed hillbilly following.  “I would’ve just run out the front door.”

“Nah.” He said.  When faced with something life-threatening, untrained people did irrational things.  He looked at her and smiled.  “You’d just kick that guy’s ass.”

He’d seen her tase, kick, and slam J’avos who had gotten too close to comfort in the narrow streets and alleyways of Lanshaing.  The big, slow, lumbering ox on the screen?  Easy money.  She grinned back at him and nodded.  He wondered how much of this was a show, not for him, but for her.  The house, the pumpkins, the costume, watching terrible movies about ‘monsters’ nowhere near as scary as things she routinely saw on her day job.

Sherry had to be doing her best to act like the average American woman, whose life didn’t entail spending most of her time out of the country fighting B.O.W.s.  Who couldn’t walk off impalement.  She was doing this to prove herself normal, to herself.

Then the doorbell rang, and she sprang up.  With a speed and bounce in her step that was too enthusiastic to be an act.  She was legitimately into this.  It was inexplicable to Jake, but it was still adorable watching her get so hyped up.

When she opened the door, she looked befuddled.  The kid was a generic little kid; cute but forgettable, in a white coat that she was almost standing on.  Behind her, hanging back, Jack saw bits of the kid’s parent, blocked by Sherry and the doorway.  “And what’re ye supposed t’be, my pretty?!”

“I’m a mad scientist!” The girl said, with a lisp.  “And Daddy is a Monster!”

“Oh… that’s great.”  He noticed she had dropped character and the tension in her shoulders, even if the little girl didn’t.  She quickly regained her composure, and doled out the requisite candy.  She let out a cackle as she did so, and kept it up until they left and the door closed.

Then she turned and let out a sigh.

“Some people have no taste.” Jake said as she slumped back down on the couch, in a tone meant to convey ‘who would dress like a mad scientist _these days_ ’.  But he knew there was a lot more to it than that.  Sherry did not like talking about her family, beyond the fact that her father knew his, and that _something_ had happened in Raccoon City.  It was something she’d tell him about, in time.  Or she wouldn’t; that was her choice and he had no problem with her not wanting to dredge through it.

“It’s fine.  Just a kid having some fun. There’s no way either she or her father could have known.” She waved it off, with a forced smile.  “Can’t let it get to me and spoil the night.”

“Y’know, it’s my first time celebrating Halloween.” He offered, leaning forward to examine the mostly eaten carton of some type of fried chicken in sauce, picking at a piece with chopsticks.

“How are you liking it so far?” She asked, letting herself be drawn into a conversation and away from the last trick-or-treater.

“I’m having fun.” He said, catching her give him a sideways glance.  “It’s the truth.”

She leaned forward and touched an abominable hollow plastic sphere.  “You’ve been staring at my pumpkin like it personally offended you all night. Fun.”

“I’m not a huge fan of the deocrations…” He shrugged.  He leaned over, coiling an arm around her and pulling her close.  “…got no complaints about the company.  How about you?”

“I’ve never had a ‘normal’ life.  Always wanted to though.  It’s nice.” She said.  He supposed that was true; issues with the décor aside, he wouldn’t mind a life like this if he ever got tired of risking his neck for not nearly enough money.  He looked at Sherry, who must’ve been reading his thoughts, because she bobbed her head at the table again.  “And I like the pumpkin.”

“And if I said either it goes or I go…” He teased.

There was a long pause before she returned his smirk.  “I’d have to think about it.”

Another group of kids showed up.  Werewolf, some glittery abomination that could have maybe been patterned after an American Pop singer, and a witch that Sherry got into a cackle-off with.  She liked kids.  He threw an arm around her and drew her close when returned, feeling her relax against him.  She perked up when he changed the channel.  “I was looking through the guide here, and I _want_ to see this.”

It was a ‘Based on a True Story’ tale of the rescue of Ashley Graham from BOW traffickers in rural Spain.  He’d done some digging; the Kennedy guy that Sherry knew in Lanshaing, who she had known for a long time, was the savior of the President’s daughter.  

He was curious as to how accurate it was.

Given that Sherry was howling with laughter before five minutes had passed, the filmmakers had taken a few liberties.


End file.
